TOWN manager Peter Jackson believes new arrivals Chris Brandon and Junior Mendes will be joining the fittest Town squad ever to report back for pre-season training.

TOWN manager Peter Jackson believes new arrivals Chris Brandon and Junior Mendes will be joining the fittest Town squad ever to report back for pre-season training.

With the duo now out of contract at League I rivals Chesterfield and League II Mansfield respectively, only routine medicals stand between them becoming fully-fledged Town players.

Those will take place at the McAlpine on Monday morning - and the pair are then set to head to the training ground at Storthes Hall to meet their new teammates and start the countdown to the new campaign, which begins with a trip to Stockport County on Saturday, August 7.

"It's great to have got so far on with the two signings - it's just down to the medicals now - and I'm really looking forward to getting back down to training," reported Jackson, whose players will have had exactly five weeks off since clinching promotion with their penalty shoot-out win over Mansfield at Cardiff.

"Obviously the players missed out on a few weeks' holiday because of the play-offs, although I don't think you'll find many of them complaining!

"Five weeks is still a decent period of time off, although it won't have been all rest, because they have all had individual fitness routines to follow and specific weight targets to hit.

"When I came back here last summer, I didn't think the players were as fit as they could have been, and that's something we have addressed."

Town have one of their earliest-ever pre-season friendlies against UniBond League Wakefield and Emley at the Welfare Ground on Monday week.

And Jackson explained: "Things have come on a lot in terms of the science of training, and players' attitudes have changed as well.

"In my day, we used to have two months of doing nothing, but now the lads keep themselves ticking over throughout the summer.

"That means that when we return to training as a squad, we can introduce the football earlier than before, when it was a couple of weeks of solid fitness work.

"The Emley match is a great chance to have an early check on how things are shaping up, and it gives the fans an opportunity to have a look as well."